News From The Week Of August 24 – August 28, 2020

Friend,

It’s great to be back with you today, and even better to be able to share some important news: Yesterday, AU joined a friend-of-the-court brief supporting a lawsuit against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ diversion of critical COVID-19 relief funds to private, mostly religious schools.

In NAACP v. DeVos, public school parents, school districts, and the NAACP argue that the Dept. of Education’s proposed action would drastically reduce resources and support for underserved public school students. Since AU’s founding, we have always fought to ensure your tax dollars go only to educational services that serve all students, regardless of religious beliefs. Our commitment to public education is especially crucial now as DeVos and President Trump try to exploit the pandemic to promote their private school voucher agenda.

Of course, it’s not only secular public education that AU has been fighting for since day one. Religious extremists’ attacks on reproductive health care have intensified since our founding and continue to be the centerpiece of the Religious Right agenda.

This Tuesday, I’ll be joining my amazing friend Ilyse Hogue, President of NARAL Pro-Choice America, for an exclusive conversation about how the formerly non-partisan issue of abortion rights was weaponized by the Religious Right. Ilyse and the NARAL research team break down the whole story in Ilyse’s brand-new book, The Lie That Binds, a Barnes & Noble and Amazon bestseller. Ilyse’s favorite animal is a shark- come to our conversation to learn why that shouldn’t surprise you!

Click here to RSVP for the Zoom link to my conversation with Ilyse on Tuesday: [link removed]

Thanks for all you do to support religious freedom. I hope you’re able to join us!

In solidarity,

Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO

America’s Pledge Of Allegiance Was Originally Secular:
The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by the Rev. Francis Bellamy to mark the 400th anniversary of the voyage of Christopher Columbus, and at that time, it didn’t contain the words 'under God.'
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Celebrating Suffrage: Women, Religion And The Right To Vote:
In many ways, religion was used to enhance the argument for women’s suffrage. At the same time, however, many used their religious beliefs to justify excluding women from voting.
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Scandal Gives Liberty University An Opportunity To Move Beyond The Falwells:
Since the 1960s, AU has tracked state ballot initiatives all over the country that planned to use taxpayer money to fund private schools. Every time, voters rejected private school voucher schemes.
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Federal Court Squashes Latest DeVos Attempt To Funnel Tax Aid To Private Schools:
Trump and DeVos have been pushing various types of voucher plans and other schemes to funnel massive amounts of tax aid to private schools – most of which are religious – for years.
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Americans United for Separation of Church and State
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